Robeisy Ramirez may have lost his pro debut in 2019, but nearly three years later, it looks like the hype train is refueled for the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba.
Ramirez knocked out Abraham Nova in the fifth round of tonight’s Top Rank on ESPN show from New York’s Hulu Theater, mostly dominating the fight before then and simply looking levels above a good, previously unbeaten fighter.
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Ramirez is now 10-1 (6 KO), and has looked not just slick and skilled, but also confident and destructive in his last two fights. Nova (21-1, 15 KO) was meant to be his toughest test to date, but after a pretty even opening round where mostly the two felt one another out, Ramirez pretty much took over, and the 28-year-old Cuban just look too fast and too well-rounded for Nova.
That wound up the case. A laser left hand in the fifth round put Nova down and immediately out, with referee Charlie Fitch stopping the fight immediately for a knockout at 2:20 of round five.
“This is the result of my evolution, the hard work I’ve done with my team. It’s the process, I’m trusting the process,” Ramirez said. “It was all about the strategy. I’m blessed to work with (trainer) Ismael Salas, who’s a genius. It was about tapping the body until the opening was created. He was dangerous, I knew he was a puncher so I had to be careful, but when I saw my opening, I took it and I finished the fight.”
Ramirez vs Nova highlights
More undercard highlights and results
- Bruce Carrington TKO-5 Adrian Leyva: A total mismatch, and easy to see why Top Rank are so high on Carrington (4-0, 3 KO), a 25-year-old featherweight out of Brownsville, Brooklyn. Leyva (3-3-1, 1 KO) was really not competitive here, and the doctor and referee Sparkle Lee made the call to stop the fight after the fifth round, seemingly giving the Cuban’s corner a chance to stop it themselves. When they wouldn’t, the officials stepped in, and I think it was the right call.
- Jahi Tucker TKO-4 D’Andre Smith: Tucker still occasionally fights with the reckless over-eager manner of a teenager, but this is understandable because he is still a teenager. Smith (11-2, 5 KO) is a 30-year-old carefully pulled from the Georgia Club Circuit, also fought Ben Whitaker (not the British Olympian) in the Top Rank Bubble in 2020, and lost that one, which is probably how they had his name on file and earmarked for something like this. Tucker (8-0, 5 KO) got the job done here but remains raw. Again, it’s excusable, he is 19. A real prospect, just needs the time and effort.
- Floyd Diaz UD-6 Daniil Platonovschi: I was more impressed by Diaz (5-0, 1 KO) in this one than the other times I’ve seen him, in part because Platonovschi (4-1, 2 KO) clearly isn’t some unskilled showcase opponent but someone who can box a bit, be a little awkward, and Diaz still was the clearly better guy and really got to show off his skills. Scores were 59-55, 60-54, and 60-54. Diaz, at 19, looks like he’ll settle in at 122 for his first real career push after his first three fights were at 118. I think he’s also a bigger puncher than he seems by KO percentage so far, or at least will develop that a bit more when he — for real — gets his manstrength!! If it doesn’t, then yes, that will be a concern up the ladder.
- Troy Isley TKO-6 Donte Stubbs: A really good showing for Isley, who goes to 6-0 (4 KO), dropping Stubbs (6-6, 2 KO) in the fourth round and then again in the sixth, where the referee made the right call to stop it. Stubbs’ record may not lead you to think there’s much to this win, but it’s the manner in which Isley fought and won. Stubbs had never been stopped, we’ve seen him repeatedly testing prospects, and he’s a limited but tough dude, really good in this role. Isley, a 23-year-old middleweight and Olympian in Tokyo, was sharp, fought smart, and finished when he got the chance. If the fourth round knockdown hadn’t been so close to the bell, it probably would have ended there, because Stubbs was rocked. Isley did what he could do to make this win impressive for the level it is, in short. Top Rank aren’t strapping the rocket to him like they are Keyshawn Davis, and that’s fair because Davis is a special, blue chip-level prospect, but Isley is a guy who’s coming along really nicely. I thought he raised his stock in Tokyo and has come back looking good, too.
- Wendy Toussaint UD-8 Asinia Byfield: I’m not a promoter or manager so I can just call this what it was, a matchup between two level-capped guys that was awkward for much of the eight rounds. Byfield (15-5-1, 7 KO) only got one round on all three judges’ cards, but you probably could have given him a couple more. That said, he didn’t really do what he would have needed to be sure he got them, either. Toussaint (14-1, 6 KO) is a 30-year-old club fighter with a padded record who get fed to Charles Conwell once and his upside appears to be “gets fed to another prospect while his W-L record still makes him seem like a ‘step up.’” His conditioning isn’t where it needs to be, his skill set is very limited — he’s not a bad or incompetent fighter, but he will be no legitimate threat to a contender or prospect about ready to become one. It’s just not there past this level of fight, and this was probably the best win of his career. He’s also about seven years too old to reasonably forecast he’s going to be getting any better. If Byfield were better at fighting as the aggressor, he could have won this fight. But he’s not, and he didn’t.
- Jahyae Brown UD-6 Keane McMahon: Scores were 58-56 twice and 60-54. 58-56 is debatable. As for the 60-54 card, the kindest thing you can really say is Mark Consentino shouldn’t be allowed to score fights anymore because he is very bad at it. There were at least two rounds that were pretty clearly for McMahon (7-3, 4 KO). Top Rank seemed to be getting a look at Brown (11-0, 8 KO) here, and I’m not sure the 23-year-old junior middleweight from Schenectady will have done the job they wanted to see. But maybe, because I do think there’s clear potential there. He may just be raw and in need of some good work. But he was fortunate to get the W here, because you could have argued the other way or to a draw or whatever.